After the Gujarat Bandh enforced by the VHP and Sangh Parivar to condemn the
killings of Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir, many parts of Gujarat witnessed communal
violence and gruesome attack on minorities during the past week. There were
several violent attacks against minorities in Surat, as well as the tribal areas
of Sabarkantha like Khedbrahma, Lambadiya, Modasa, etc. Burning of minority
places of worship, looting of their shops and establishments has been routine
news. While the tension still continues in some of these parts of the tribal
belt, the Sangh Parivar's most violent outfit Bajrang Dal is out to escalate
communal violence in Meghraj (a small taluka town of Sabarkantha).

Bajrang Dal has announced a Hindutva convention on Monday (Aug. 14, 3 p.m. afternoon)
in Meghraj at Pahadiya Hanuman temple. According to a news report published
in the Ahmedabad based daily "Gujarat Today" (Aug. 10), Bajrang Dal
plans to mobilise over thirty thousand (30,000) tribals and it's supporters
from Gujarat for this convention. At the local level there is reasonable fear
that this convention will whip communal tension and boost attack on minorities
in Meghraj.

Muslim shopkeepers and traders, an economically well-off stratum in this tribal
town, have already started moving out all valuables, assets, commodities etc.
from their shops and establishments to supposedly "safer places".
The existing class contradictions between Muslim merchants and tribals are likely
to be successfully converted into communal hatred against the community by the
Sangh Parivar, eyeing upon the forthcoming municipal and Panchayat (local self
government) elections in the state.

We are sure that the Government and the police will be mute spectators to this
event of mobilising tribals to launch a bloody progrom against the minorities,
as is borne out from past experiences in the Dangs, Ahmedabad and elsewhere.

Hoping that sufficient international public pressure on the Indian and Gujarat
government might yield some positive results, we appeal to all progressive secular
and democratic forces to condemn this Hindutva convention and pressurise the
government to take preventive action or ban the convention (of Monday) and save
the tribal Meghraj town from burning in communal flames.